Little Clues
by R.A. Draylin
Summary: When the team is called in on a local case, they aren't sure they'll be able to solve it. Casefic with a dark twist at the end. Hastily written for a challenge from a friend.


_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own Criminal Minds or the characters and I do not make any money off of my stories._

* * *

"Alright, crimefighters, this is a local one and it's pretty gruesome." Garcia told them, clicker in hand as she pulled up pictures of the victims. "The first unfortunate soul was one Daniel Saunders, 23 years old. He worked for a local publishing company doing formatting and editing. He was alive for all of the torture and died of blood loss."

Saunders was of average height with dark hair and dark eyes. He was plain, healthy and seemed to live a perfectly average life. The photo of him at the crime scene showed his tanned skin littered with cuts and smeared with blood. He was naked, but no particular mutilation had been done to his genitals. Every part of his body was covered in deep cuts, and his groin had not been avoided but no special attention was paid to it either.

"Next was Jennifer Gonzalez, 43 and a high school mathematics teacher. She died of a gunshot wound to the chest." Garcia continued, pulling up pictures of a Latina woman. The gunshot wound was the only thing that marred her skin.

"And our third victim, David Harmon, 17 and an athlete. He was an average student and played just about every sport his school had to offer." Garcia told them, showing a redhead with a gentle smile. "He drowned."

"Garcia, these murders aren't similar at all." JJ said, flicking across the pictures on her tablet. "What connects them?"

"Well, see, this is why we were called in. Each victim was found with a note in their hands, just a little sticky note. Daniel's said _No Regrets_ , Jennifer's said _Quick and Easy_ , and David's said _I Won't Stop_. It's handwritten and I ran it through the database trying to match any known signatures or official papers and there were no solid matches." Garcia pulled up another screen which had all three notes. They were written on small yellow notes with red lines, and the writing was tiny and uniform. It looked like it could have been printed out.

"I can't imagine anyone actually writing like that." Rossi said, inspecting the pictures.

"Will we be working from here?" Prentiss asked, slightly preoccupied, already taking down notes of possible profiles.

"Yes, my loves. The victims are from completely different cities in Virginia, but they were all dumped right in the same park." Garcia pulled up a map which marked each city and the dump site.

"It's so close, it's like they actually wanted us to pick up this case." Reid mused, his paper copies spread out so he could look at them.

"That's something that definitely needs to be considered." Hotch told them. "These bodies were practically dumped on our doorstep."

"So they probably want our attention, I mean the BAU is no secret and everyone knows we'd pick up case with this sort of signature." Morgan began with the air of a profiler in the zone. "The violence involved and the lack of remorse points to a male. And the variety of victimology could mean that these are victims of opportunity or they represent people in his life."

"Garcia, what were these people doing when they were last seen?" Reid asked, right before his cell phone went off. He looked down before his eyes widened, and he excused himself to take the call.

"To answer Boy Wonder's question, they were all doing different things. Jennifer was at an inservice convention, Daniel was having dinner with his family, and David was at a baseball tournament. They were all last seen at different times in the day. Jennifer was last seen around 6pm when a coworker dropped her off at home, Daniel was last seen around 2am when he stopped by a gas station to buy cigarettes, and David was last seen leaving his school after they returned home Saturday after the tournament around 9am." Garcia told them. JJ wrote the information down on a piece of paper and slid it over to Reid's spot at the table.

"So either no job or a job with flexible hours." The blonde said.

"I would say the unsub has a job," Rossi told them, "He has the means to get from place to place easily, and there were no phone calls reporting suspicious behavior so he must seem respectable."

Reid walked back into the room, his face white. He retook his seat and gave himself a minor shake to clear his head.

"You alright, Reid?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, fine." He said, glancing over the paper JJ had laid down. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. "Guys, I'll explain later. Can we just work on the case for right now?"

The profilers continued taking notes and musing over possibilites of the unsub's personality. Hotch finally closed his file, commanding Morgan and Prentiss to go talk to the victim's families, JJ and Rossi to go interview the people who found the bodies, and told Reid to stay with him. Once the room had cleared and Garcia had once again disappeared to her lair, the Unit Chief looked expectantly at his youngest agent, who sighed.

"It was Bennington. Mom's hurt herself and they aren't sure if she's going to make it. She lost a lot of blood." Reid told him, looking down. Hotch wasn't quite sure what to say. Reid wasn't someone who put a lot of stock in simple condolences.

"Why don't you take a few days off? Go see your mom. This case is local, we can handle it." He suggested. It was the only thing he could think of that might actually help the young agent.

"Hotch, I'm fine." Reid told him, but it was an obvious lie. "Besides, I would have to get a ticket and I'm sure there's not a direct plane I could take to California today."

"Reid, you won't be able to have your head in the game. Your mom is a very important person in your life. Just take some personal days." Hotch told him, laying a supportive hand on Reid's shoulder. Reid took a deep breath in, before nodding.

* * *

Nearly a week had passed since the BAU team was first set on the case. Another body had been found, and Garcia had just called saying that a woman who they believe had been taken by their unsub had just turned her cell phone on and had immediately called the police.

"I managed to trace it to an old abandoned grocery store near the park, sending the address to you now!" She told them, before shooting Reid a text to let him know what was happening. "Wait.. Guys, hurry! Her phone just shut off again, the unsub knows she called!"

"We're about five minutes away, Mama." Morgan assured her.

"You need to make it two!" She urged them, fingers tapping away on her keyboard as she pulled up the map which had the young girl's location on it. She hung up, trying to see if there was anywhere the unsub could go that would allow him to get away from the team.

The flashing lights were blinding as two FBI SUV's and five police cars pulled into the old parking lot. They all had their Kevlar vests on, and before the cars could even come to a complete stop the BAU team was jumping out and heading into the building.

"FBI!" Morgan shouted as they entered the darkened room. It was a small store, one that had been owned by an elderly man who wanted an all-natural market in the area. There was an office and two storage rooms, as well as the main area. It was obvious their unsub was in one of the other three rooms, so they split up.

Prentiss and Morgan went to the furthest room, a storage room, and Morgan kicked the door in. There were several lamps lit in the room, and the unsub was sitting alone in the center of the room. The young girl, Ally West, was lying limp in the corner, blood trickling down her face. The agents nearly stopped in their tracks when they caught sight of the unsub. Morgan began to lower his gun.

"Reid, what are you doing, man? You're supposed to be in California!" He said.

"You know, I was always worried about the 6% chance I had of developing schizophrenia." Reid told them, looking at the ground. "And then when I passed the 25 year mark, I hoped I was out of the woods."

"Reid, you need to put the gun down." Prentiss urged him.

"Garcia told me she called 911. I was about to leave. I came running back in and Garcia was right. I didn't really process that she could be hiding her phone. I figured she would have already called. She was a smart one." Reid told them, focusing on Ally in the corner.

"Reid, did you kill her?" Morgan asked, tightening his grip on his gun even as he wished he didn't have to.

"No." Reid looked up at them, surprised. "Do you think I killed these people?"

"Right now, that's how it looks." Prentiss told him hesitantly. "Reid, what's going on?"

"I didn't kill them." He said, standing up.

"Reid, put the gun down." Prentiss requested slowly. She could hear footsteps making their way towards them. Hotch suddenly appeared at Morgan's shoulder, his gun in his hand.

"Agent Reid. Put your gun down." He commanded, not even taking the time to look around. "You know if you don't we will have to shoot you."

"Why?" He asked suddenly, his eyes clouding over slightly. "I'm not crazy. I didn't kill these people!"

"Then who did?" Their Unit Chief asked.

"You did." Reid told him. He set his gun down. "You and the team. You all did."

Morgan rushed forward, cuffing the man he considered his brother, his stomach churning.

"You don't have to read me my rights. I remember them. I remember everything you know." He told the room at large, which had suddenly filled up the police officers and the other members of the BAU team. "Including what you all consider to be the most cold-hearted murders. We talked about it at a lecture one day. And you all didn't even realize! So much for innocent Spencer, right? The one who can't even shoot a gun properly. I shot Jennifer right in the heart."

Morgan began to push against Spencer, leading him out of the room.

"I read something about how people never suspect someone they truly trust. All the clues were right there. You let five people die because you refused to see. I left clues!" Reid told them.

"Reid." JJ said. "Please, just stop. You can tell us all about it later in the interrogation room."

* * *

 **A/N:** So I've had a this sort of idea in my head for a really long time and I finally decided I'd sit down and right it. Now I remember why none of my attempts worked. This is actually really hard to write. I just wanted to get it written though. I might rewrite it at a later time because this isn't very good.

Reviews and critiques are very much appreciated!


End file.
